A Simple Christmas Problem
by Dbzultrafan
Summary: It is Christmas season at the briefs family, and they are preparing for all of the fun of Christmas! They're getting the tree, hanging up Christmas decorations to and fro, and they're buying presents! But something becomes horribly wrong... Bulma starts getting odd symptoms and the aren't going away... This cannot be they or a cold, so what could it be?
1. Presents

It 'twas a whole week before Christmas. Trunks was currently his original 8-year old self, and trying to sneak a peek at a present. Every year, his mother hides them in his parents' room. He had always wanted to figure out where so every time Christmas comes 'round he'll know where to look.  
It was nearing midnight on the 18th of December as trunks crept along the hallway in search of his prize. After passing several rooms, he had reached his parents' room.  
He opened the door slowly and quietly as to not wake Bulma and Vegeta. He silently tip toed around the room. He looked around the bed, in the dresser, wardrobe, and behind the mirror. Finally there was the closet. Now trunks mentally thought to himself, "why is there both a wardrobe and closet? Dang! Mom must have a BUNCH of clothes!"  
So he slowly approached, when all of a sudden he heard his mother stir silently. He had always known she was a light sleeper, but he could have sworn that he didn't make a single noise. He dashed swiftly by the side of the bed while his mother arose.  
Bulma rubbed her left eye sleepily and arose. She let her hand droop to her side and she scanned the room. She could detect nothing, but even so she swung her legs over and padded around the room. It was a miracle she didn't spot her eight year old son from the side of the bed. When she came to her bed again, she gave a small cough and crawled under the covers once more.  
Trunks waited a whole 5 minutes for her to actually fall asleep until he continued his scavenge for presents. He opened the door of the closet without a single creak; but he then felt a chill run down his spine as a shadow descended upon him.  
"Son, what are you doing up at this hour, rummaging through the closet?" Vegeta asked from behind trunks. Trunks turned slowly to find Vegeta looking down at him, arms crossed.  
"Looking for presen- I mean cookies...?"  
"Right. You should be in bed, or you won't wake up properly and turn nocturnal. Now go to bed." Trunks shook his head.  
"Not until I know where the presents are!" He declared, and trunks continued in his search. For about five seconds. Vegeta picked him up and carried him to his room, trunks punching his chest demanding he had the right to see his presents.  
"The presents are not in that room. Your mother decided to move them where she thought was suitable for a relocation," the prince said, as he set trunks on his bed. Trunks paused. He blinked twice and said,  
"What? She friggin moved them?! So I wasted my time searching in there?! Oh great!" Trunks grumbled as he went under his covers. Vegeta simply let him be.  
Vegeta went back down the hallway and went to his room. He opened the door and found Bulma sitting up in bed coughing. Vegeta went over and asked what was wrong.  
"I probably have a small cold. That's all. I should probably get some rest." Vegeta laid the back of his hand on her forehead. It felt warm.  
"You have a fever. Hopefully it will break by morning." Vegeta did all this nonchalantly, also by wishing her goodnight, which didn't happen much. So Bulma laid back in bed, waiting for the morning to dawn.


	2. Snow

It was the 19th, and there was a fresh coat of pure white virgin snow on every lawn. Which meant no exception for the briefs's lawn. It was around morning, around seven o clock, and trunks was finished gorging on breakfast. Trunks went to one of the front windows and saw the sheets of thick snow on the wide lawn.  
Trunks bolted towards his mother who was washing dishes. Before trunks could say a word, Vegeta came and stopped in front of Bulma.  
"Bulma, you should be in bed recuperating," said the saiyan.  
"Well, my fever has broken and I haven't coughed much, so I figured that I should be allowed to walk about at least, geez." Bulma then turned back to her dishes, ignoring Vegeta.  
Trunks saw his opportunity to ask his mother what he desired.  
"Mom!" Trunks said, "can we play in the snow?"  
"I guess," Bulma replied, "But make sure you put on a thick jacket and some earmuffs!" Trunks was already bolting down the hallway, tugging his arms through the sleeves of his multi colored neon jacket and pulling purple earmuffs over his ears. He also kicked on some blue Uggs onto his feet.  
Trunks waited for his mother to dress, persuade his father, and meet him outside. She was in a red turtleneck sweater and jeans, with fluffy tan Uggs, red knit gloves, and red earmuffs. Bulma seemed to be digging the color red at the moment. Vegeta simply came with a dark jacket and a blue shirt, sporting jeans and black shoes. Bulma wasn't happy with his decision in wardrobe, but didn't make him change.  
The trio went outside, the fresh winter breeze invigorating. Trunks went the side of a car his mother owned and formed an icy ball of snow in his hands. He aimed it at his mother and quickly launched it.  
Though trunks put a little much force and made Bulma stumble a tad. Bulma laughed and threw a snowball back at trunks, her aim untrue. It missed by several inches, landing in the cool ice particles on the lawn.  
"Haha!" Laughed trunks, as his mother tried once more. She threw a volley at the small boy, none of them landing. Trunks saw behind Bulma his father who held a huge ball of snow. Trunks tried not to act suspicious as Vegeta prepared to bombard Bulma with the snowy mass.  
Bulma continued throw after throw until her chest started to hurt. She stopped and laid a hand on the area of pain. Vegeta immediately slammed down the ball of snow on her. Bulma clambered out from under the pile and breathed slowly. She felt her energy deteriorate all of a sudden. She felt tired. And she hadn't even gone outside for ten minutes! She let herself rest, and waited for the chest pain to subdue. It didn't. She stood and felt weak. She felt her knees buckle and then Vegeta immediately came to catch her fall. He helped her up and he seemed alarmed. Only when Vegeta had said her name a third time had she regained her senses.  
"Bulma!"  
"Oh hey... I must be sicker than I thought..." she let her head fall on his chest as he carried her princess style inside. Trunks just stood holding a snowball, poised to throw.  
"What just happened?" He said to no one in particular.  
So trunks dusted his mittens away of snow and went into the house, careful to stomp the snow off his boots.  
Vegeta placed Bulma gingerly on the couch, tossing his jacket on the coat rack near the door. He passed trunks who still seemed confused. Then he saw his father on the phone.  
"Gohan?" Vegeta said on the phone, "what do you know about colds and flus?" Vegeta hung up after hearing a response. Vegeta turned to trunks and said, "Gohan shall be coming to help. I believe this is a serious cold, possibly a flu."  
A couple of quiet coughs aroused from the heiress. She was breathing normally, but her chest still hurt. Then she felt a pain in her lungs. Then the pain had stopped a of a sudden. She sat up and wondered what was going on. She simply got up and went to a surprised Vegeta.  
"Bulma, you shouldn't be up; you could be serious ill, which I believe is either the cold or flu. If you are able to walk then go rest in bed."  
Bulma sighed and went up to her room. She laid down and saw trunks came in and lay a bowl of soup on her bedside table.  
"Hope you get better mom!" Trunks smiled and made a peace sign with two fingers. Bulma smiled back. After her son had left, she looked at her soup. She hadn't eaten breakfast and was a bit peckish; but she didn't want to eat. So she simply rolled on her side and managed to doze off.


	3. Friends

Bulma awoke with a minor head ache and her chest hurting once more. Gohan was over her, which she freaked out over.  
"Oh my god! When did you get here?" Bulma asked, eyes wide with shock.  
"A couple of minutes ago..." Gohan replied, focusing on her temperature. He gently shoved a clear glass thermometer in her mouth. A minute later, he got it out and "tsk"ed.  
"You have a high fever mrs. Briefs. You need to rest. But it only appears to be a cold. It'll pass by. Bye Bulma! Get well soon!" And as soon as he said it, he was out of the plush room and going down the hallway out to go home.  
Bulma really wanted some Tylenol. It was everyone's best friend, seeing as it helped with several things. She half hoped it would cure the ache in her chest. Then a series of coughs racked her body. When she had recovered from her coughing fit, she noticed a bottle of water next to her on the end table next to her head. She grabbed the plastic bottle in her hand and unscrewed the lid. She took a long drink of water and she felt a bit better.

Bulma tried to relax more onto her pillow and go to sleep once more. But the ache in her chest forbid it. She hadn't told about the ache, so she just presumed it was just part of a cold. Also, strangely enough, she hadn't eaten anything at all today but she had no appetite. She didn't know how to solve that either.  
As Bulma started coughing again, she heard light footsteps in the hallway; Vegeta had left the door open so Bulma wouldn't feel so confined as she recovered.  
Trunks came into the room with a bundle behind his back.  
"Mom?" Trunks asked, "are you bored?" Bulma thought about it for a moment. Yeah... She actually kinda was.  
"A little. Why?"  
"Well I thought you would! So I went and grabbed a bunch of your romance novels for you." Trunks handed her four romance novels by her favorite author, and smiled.  
"Thanks Trunksy." She leaned forward and kissed the top of his head. Trunks grumbled at the kiss but Bulma knew he had taken a liking to them.  
Bulma didn't mind trunks staying, but Bulma never knew when she had woken up at such a late hour. When she checked a clock, it read 9:34 PM. Bulma looked at trunks who was yawning silently.  
"Time for bed." Bulma smiled and kissed him goodnight while still lying down. Trunks wished her goodnight and ventured back to his room. Bulma still hadn't felt hungry in the last few hours. Bulma put it aside as her just feeling full from something yesterday. Bulma started to feel worse. It began to feel hotter, and her lungs started to hurt this time. She tried coughing to clear her throat but it hadn't worked. She coughed into a tissue and what she saw on the tissue after she had coughed shocked her.

Bulma had coughed up blood.


End file.
